Lighting giant Zumtobel trials Li-Fi

Zumtobel will test the Li-Fi concept on its customers in industries such as medical, defence, industrial and manufacturing.

TOP luminaire brand Zumtobel Group is trailing adding Li-Fi to its luminaires as a way of delivering the internet, Lux has learned.

Li-Fi is a high-speed Internet connection that is more secure, reliable, and able to deliver bandwidth far beyond the capabilities of conventional wireless communications like Wi-Fi. The device, such as a laptop, communicates with the luminaire using a dongle. The download channel is via visible light while the back channel is infra-red.

Li-Fi – or ‘light fidelity’ – is an exciting new technology which allows visible light to deliver embedded data, rather than traditional radio waves.

The newest trial, conducted in partnership with Scottish technology start-up pureLiFi, uses LED lights to send large amounts of data while appearing as normal LED light to the human eye.

The Li-Fi trial reflects a series of moves by Zumtobel to add digital services beyond traditional lighting and solve challenges for high-speed secure wireless connectivity.

As part of the trial, Zumtobel has installed pureLiFi’s system, alongside its LED lights. The system enables a data transmission via an LED luminaire at high speeds through small adjustments in the LED’s brightness.

The result is a high-speed Internet connection that is more secure, reliable, and able to deliver bandwidth far beyond the capabilities of conventional wireless communications like Wi-Fi.

Li-Fi is more secure and virtually interference free compared to other wireless solutions. The technology will enable them to leverage vast frequency spectrum resources of visible light.

Zumtobel says it ‘aims to evaluate the market demand for the technology over the coming months’.

Zumtobel will test the Li-Fi concept on its customers in industries such as medical, defence, industrial and manufacturing.

‘Li-Fi enabled by Zumtobel allows to step into the next era of wireless communications,’ Zumtobel Group CEO Alfred Felder told Lux. ‘Compared to standard radio technology or cellular such as Wi-Fi, Li-Fi can transmit at multiple gigabits, is more reliable, virtually interference free and uniquely more secure.

‘We believe that in an increasingly interconnected digital world Li-Fi will play a decisive role in moving our industry into the era of digital light.’

Learn more about Li-Fi at LuxLive 2019 taking place on Wednesday 13 November and Thursday 14 November 2019 at ExCeL London. Entry is free. For more information, click HERE.